


The Dynamic Duo

by loves_books



Category: Lewis (TV)
Genre: M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2014-08-12
Updated: 2014-08-12
Packaged: 2018-02-12 22:17:08
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,081
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/2126556
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/loves_books/pseuds/loves_books
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Robbie prides himself on always keeping a straight face when he hears it. He’s had plenty of practise at that over the years, after all. Sometimes he can even summon a frustrated frown and a shake of his head, though he usually makes of show of simply ignoring it. It’s childish, after all. Typical work-place teasing. Harmless.</p><p>But he always wants to laugh, every single time.</p>
            </blockquote>





	The Dynamic Duo

**Author's Note:**

  * For [Willowbrooke](https://archiveofourown.org/users/Willowbrooke/gifts).



> Written as a birthday gift for the lovely Willowbrooke x

“Watch out, the dynamic duo are on the scene!” 

It’s just a whispered comment, from one PC to another, but it reaches Robbie’s ears nonetheless. He always wants to laugh when he hears that particular phrase, but he’s pleased he manages to keep a straight face as he heads on towards the crime scene, towards where James is already waiting. 

He prides himself on always keeping a straight face when he hears it. He’s had plenty of practise at that over the years, after all. Sometimes he can even summon a frustrated frown and a shake of his head, though he usually makes of show of simply ignoring it. It’s childish, after all. Typical work-place teasing. Harmless.

But he always wants to laugh, every single time. 

Of all the things he and James have been called during their years working together, it’s definitely the most harmless. James has often had the worst of the name-calling, of course, being who and what he is. A hundred and one variations on the theme of ‘posh tosser’. Graduate entry scheme, well-spoken and well-read, tall and young – yes, Robbie knows James has been the target of more than a few nasty nicknames throughout his years in the force, though they’ve become few and far between in the last year or two. James has more than proved himself as a detective, gaining a solid reputation, and while the older constables like Hooper might still take the mickey at times, the nastier names have vanished, at least in Robbie’s hearing.

Robbie’s never tolerated nicknames, not when they are used only with the intention to hurt. It’s bullying, plain and simple. He’s never been sure if he’s picked up any nicknames himself – none have reached his ears, though he’d be surprised if he’d escaped entirely. He suspects James has been his usual overprotective self and unleashed his sometimes-brutal sarcasm on any unsuspecting officer who might have dared to speak of DI Lewis with anything less than the utmost respect.

Just as well, really, though he can’t help being a bit curious. Robbie’s always found it satisfying to squash any nastiness at the station, knowing they all get enough grief from members of the public on a daily basis just for doing their jobs. There are the obvious insults – ‘filth’, ‘pigs’, ‘bacon’ – as well as the more creative – he’d heard ‘Chimps’ shouted at a couple of PCSOs the other day, and eventually had to give in and ask James if he knew where that one came from. On finding out it apparently stood for Completely Hopeless In Most Policing Situations, he’d had to hide his smile, sharing a knowing look with James instead.

They’re a strange pair of detectives, him and James. Robbie understands that, having previously been part of another unusual pairing, with Morse. Most of the nicknames they do hear are those linking the two of them together in some way. Arriving at a crime scene without James, he’ll often be asked where his ‘better half’ is. His ‘other half’. The ‘dishy Sergeant Hathaway’ – fair enough, that last one was only Laura, but it did stick in Robbie’s mind.

But this particular nickname has struck a chord with everyone, so it seems, and it always makes Robbie want to laugh. ‘The dynamic duo’ indeed – the thought of him and James dressed as Batman and Robin is hilarious enough, and the two of them have had many a drunken conversation where they debate which of them is the hero and which the sidekick. Robbie’s insistence that he is the older and the wiser and therefore quite obviously Batman is usually met with a particularly smug look from James, followed by a light-hearted lecture about the history of superheroes, which somehow proves that Robbie should be Robin instead.

The longer those arguments last, and the more drunk Robbie becomes, the harder he has to try not to think of James in the form-fitting lycra of a superhero’s costume. 

Lycra aside, the idea of the two of them as superheroes really does make Robbie smile. They’re nothing but good, honest, hard-working coppers, the pair of them. They do their best every day, hoping to solve whatever crime lands on their desk or crashes in front of them while they’re out and about. They try to make the world a little bit better, as clichéd as that sounds, and Robbie knows that responsibility weighs particularly heavily on his younger partner. They both want to make a difference to the world they live in, but James takes it far too personally when something doesn’t work out the way he feels it should.

Things don’t and can’t always work out the way they want them to, but that’s just the nature of life. Robbie’s old enough to accept that and he knows James will learn that one day too, though deep down he hopes that day is far off. As much as it obviously hurts James when he feels he’s failed, and as much as it hurts Robbie to see his partner suffering for any reason, he knows James will always keep trying, striving to do better. He admires that in the young man more than he can possibly say, though he does wish his partner wouldn’t wear himself into the ground trying to right all the world’s wrongs in one go.

They are only human, the two of them, and far from being ‘superheroes’. They barely even rate ‘heroes’ most days, though they’ve been called that at times, usually by the press after Innocent manages to parade the two of them in front of the cameras as shining examples of Oxford’s finest, having ignoring their protests in the process. 

Yet there are times when Robbie does feel a little bit like a superhero, though he’d never admit that out loud. The days when they catch the killer in time to save a life, much to everyone’s relief. The days when they return something to its grateful owner, often something simple that would be worth nothing to anyone else – a photo, a notebook, a teddy bear. The days when all they can do is solve the case, to give a grieving family member the gift of answers where there were previously only heart-breaking questions. 

Those are the tiny moments that make the job worth doing, for both him and for James. The moments that make Robbie feel like a superhero, just for a second, before the realities of paperwork and prosecutions and court dates come crashing back down around him. James is usually standing there with him, shoulder to shoulder, and they’ll go for a quiet pint or two and feel like regular blokes again.

Not quite Batman and Robin, but they have their moments. Oxford’s ‘dynamic duo’. It’s a standing joke among all coppers that an Inspector and his bagman are often closer than most married couples, and Robbie knows how true it really is for the two of them. He understands James in a way few others can, though he doesn’t think for a second that he’s uncovered all of the younger man’s closely guarded secrets. James understands Robbie, too, his prickly ways and his grief over losing Val. The grief that has started to fade to leave fond memories, finally, after so many painful years.

Mostly because of James, and the simple gift of his presence in Robbie’s life, both on the job and on a far more personal level.

Superheroes stop the bad guys, and they save lives. Robbie and James do their best every day to stop the bad guys, of course, though usually at least one life has been lost before they even arrive at the scene. They try their hardest to save lives, and their efforts often pay off. They’ve saved each other’s lives, too, in more ways than one. Robbie used to wonder exactly who saved who first, but it’s all equal and in the end it isn’t about keeping scores, not between the two of them.

There’s the most literal interpretation, of course. They’ve each physically saved the other a few times – Robbie carried James over his shoulder out of a burning building, and James stopped Robbie walking under a car the very first day they met. They have each been there time and again to pick up the pieces when the other has been shot or stabbed, though thankfully those injuries have rarely been life-threatening. 

But it’s more than that, more than just the physical. Deep down Robbie thinks James might have saved him, just a little bit, by giving him a reason to keep going to work and to live his life again, after Val. Giving him a focus, giving his friendship and his trust, asking so little in return. He thinks he might have saved James too, in a way, watching as the younger man grows more confident in himself and more relaxed every day, in a job where he is certainly a most unusual policeman. 

They spend the better part of their lives together now, both at work and off-duty, and he simply can’t imagine his life without James being there. He thinks – hopes – James might feel the same way.

They haven’t talked about it, of course. They don’t talk about the big things, nor the little things either, not really. Robbie can find the words if he needs to, but he rarely feels the need. Not with James, anyway. A look, a smile, or a pat on the shoulder work just as well. Another round down at the pub, or takeout shared on Robbie’s sofa, pressed shoulder to shoulder once more. 

They are closer by far than any other partnership at the station. Closer than friends, most definitely. Among the rumours which have reached Robbie’s ears over the years have been many variations on a theme – that James is sleeping his way to the top, either with Robbie or with Innocent, and that Robbie is taking advantage of the younger man. Nonsense, obviously, but as with all good rumours, perhaps there might be a grain of truth at the heart of it. They aren’t ready to have that conversation – Robbie knows he certainly isn’t, not quite yet, but the time is coming perhaps when he and James might take the next step. If he’s reading things right, at least, and it isn’t just the wishful thinking of a lonely old copper. 

No rush, no hurry. They have time.

This particular dynamic duo aren’t going anywhere anytime soon, after all, even if the shadow of retirement for Robbie is hovering in the not-too-distant future. For now, Robbie is absolutely fine with being one half of their dynamic duo, though of course he always tries not to smile when he hears the nickname yet again, carefully schooling his face into a frown. If James is within earshot, though he’s too far away today, Robbie can’t help noticing the way the younger man ducks his head shyly. It always fails entirely to hide the smile that seems to hover on James’s thin lips at the time. James doesn’t mind being part of the dynamic duo either, clearly.

Perhaps next Halloween, if they can’t find an excuse to get out of the inevitable station party, Robbie might suggest the pair of them dress up. Robbie will be Batman, of course, though he will almost certainly have to pull rank in order to make James be the sidekick instead of the hero. James will protest the lycra, and Robbie will point out that the lad’s form-fitting rowing outfits and skinny jeans are hardly much better. And maybe he’ll be in a position to help James out of his snug costume after the party ends.

No, he knows all of that’ll never happen, not in a million years. Neither of them do fancy-dress, after all, nor do they do parties unless they can get away with skulking in a corner together sharing a few pints, or hiding out in the garden so James can indulge his smoking habit. A matched pair, the two of them, they really are.

With a shake of his head, he sighs and pulls his thoughts back to the task at hand, leaving those two PCs and their comments far behind as he reaches James’s side at last. Robbie Lewis and James Hathaway, the dynamic duo. Of all the things they’ve been called over the years, Robbie finds he’s more than happy with that. Though he’ll never let on, of course.

**Author's Note:**

> Written very quickly and unbetaed, this started out as a little idea and grew a bit out of control - I've never yet managed to write a successful drabble, though one day I hope to succeed. Hope it makes some sense!


End file.
